Frida - Ovarian Cancer (50 years old)
"If I smoke a lot of pot before going in to my chemo sessions I find the entire process a lot less traumatic.
If I smoke I can get over the nausea and actually eat again. Medical cannabis is keeping me alive."
February 2014
"There's been such a huge reduction is seizures... I can see a future for her now."
- Toni Marie Matich, Monique's Mum
May 2014
"I’ve been diagnosed with cancer: I have sarcoma, GIST (gastrointestinal stromal tumor) and a gastro-intestronal tumor. I was introduced to medicinal cannabis about ten months ago and use it for pain and nausea, as a relaxant and as an appetite stimulant.
I have pain from the cancer, and I get severe headaches from vomiting and stomach strain. I have been prescribed morphine and on normal days was using between 20-30mls; the alternative to that being one cannabis joint in the morning and one before going to bed.
For the past eight weeks now I’ve replaced morphine entirely with cannabis and I feel all the better for it!
Cannabis causes my body to relax, which helps the pain go away. The effects begin almost instantly, whereas it can take over an hour to feel the morphine start working. And morphine doesn’t necessarily stop the pain completely, whereas cannabis does.
Cannabis increases my appetite substantially and stops nausea so I can keep food down. Having an appetite stimulant is vital to me because the option is to get a tube inserted.
Unlike morphine, there are no long lasting effects from cannabis. With morphine, you feel ‘muzzy headed’ for a couple of days; you can’t drive, can’t take your kids to school. You can’t do the normal things that a mother does like looking after the house, the family, etc.
Cannabis is gone within a matter of hours, and I haven’t got that “can’t even get out of bed” feeling. Instead, I do want to get out of bed because I’ve slept properly and felt completely restful the next morning."
July 2011
"I am a former International Equestrian who now suffers from Visceral Leishmaniasis Donavanni, a parasitic infection that has destroyed my bone marrow which I caught while competing overseas.
This rare illness requires that I continue on a tough regime of chemotherapy and treatment akin to chemotherapy, now at 828 doses over the past 14 years. The side effects and initial effects of Leishmania and the treatment are nausea, joint and muscle pain, severe headaches, enlarged spleen and inflamed and enlarged liver.
These are the immediate symptoms that need control as I lock up with muscle spasm and pain; cannabis is the only drug that provides immediate relief. Within 10 minutes, the pain is relieved and the nausea reduced to nothing – a quick result that no conventional medication can achieve.
If I had to rely upon conventional medications, my quality of life would be significantly poorer as becoming disabled could not allow me to continue participating as a speaker, writer, coach and massage therapist. Without cannabis I would be wracked with pain and most certainly declined with depression due to constant pain and lack of energy."
February 2011 (Peter passed away in late 2014)
“I don't fit the stereotype for a cannabis user. I’m a cancer sufferer. I’ve just been diagnosed. I’ve had anxiety depression for years, and it’s the only thing that helps me eat and sleep. I’ve just had my kidney out, that’s where the cancer was. After the operation my surgeon said, ‘Go home and have a joint. That will be the best thing for you right now’.”
May 2014
“I want cannabis decriminalised for medicinal use. I suffer with a medical illness myself, which I use it for. I’m not out of it all the time. I still go to work and work productively. It’s not about getting wasted.”
"I was diagnosed with depression at the age of 15 when I was prescribed Prozac by my doctor. I took it for two months."
“It ruined my sleeping patterns. I was up and down. It completely destroyed me. I’m not going to get loaded up on pills that make me feel like shit when I can simply smoke a joint and I feel fine.”
May 2014